Polonezköy Nature Park


Polonezköy Nature Park is a nature park village of Polonezköy in Istanbul, Turkey.
Polonezköy is situated in the Beykoz district of Istanbul Province. The area was declared a nature park by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 1994. It covers an area of about. It is the province's first and in terms of area largest nature park. The protected area is named after the village of Polonezköy, which was settled in 1842 by a small group of Polish emigrants, after the failed November Uprising. The settlement was initially named "Adamköy" or "Adampol" in honor of Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, and was renamed later to "Polonez Karyesi". In 1923, it was changed to its current official name.
The nature park offers many outdoor recreational activities such as picnicking, camping, trekking and orienteering. There is a -long hiking, cycling and jogging course, as well as observation towers. There are also a number of restaurants. Lodging is available in a number of boarding houses and hotels in the village.

Ecosystem

Flora

The nature park has a very rich variety of vegetation. Common plants include black pine, Turkish pine, Scots pine, pedunculate oak, sessile oak, Turkey oak, Hungarian oak, horse-chestnut, sweet chestnut, Norway spruce, oriental plane, Mediterranean cypress, common hornbeam, Scots elm, alder, oriental beech, silver linden, oriental arborvitae, Smilax, bay laurel, strawberry tree, common laurel , cotoneaster, common hawthorn, scarlet firethorn, giant heather and guelder-rose.

Fauna

There is a pheasant farm and a deer farm inside the nature park. Wild animals observed in the protected area include mammals like red deer, roe deer, wild boars, jackals, squirrels, martens, weasels, and the bird species of pheasant, partridge, hawk, buzzard, falcon, eurasian blackbird, European goldfinch, common wood pigeon, owl, magpie and sparrow.